INTRODUCTION

The purpose of this study is to consider the topography of modern day Knottingley and by reference to sparse documentary sources and within the context of general historical trends, formulate a theoretical model concerning the development of the settlement during the medieval and post medieval eras as reflected in the field systems adopted.

The appearance of the countryside which surrounds the town today is one of fields, mostly rectangular in shape, with straight line boundaries and of variable size, the area of each being defined by a hedge, fence or wall.

The prevailing system of relatively small enclosures is of quite recent origin being largely created in consequence of the privately sponsored Enclosure Act in the late eighteenth century. Paradoxically, the system inaugurated by the wholesale adoption of enclosures mirrored the initial pattern of cultivation utilised by the earliest settlers on the site of the modern town.

Settlements by the Anglo Saxons in forest clearings such as that which was to develop into the manorial vill of Notinglea (Knottingley) a few centuries later, were dependent on agriculture and thus by use of axe and fire, clearance of the surrounding woodland was necessary to provide land for crop cultivation. The process of clearance, known as assarting, resulted in the piecemeal accumulation of small areas of cultivable soil which, undistinguished by fence or hedge, provided the nucleus for the eventual incorporation of individual clones into the common field pattern known as the open field system of agriculture, widely in use by the tenth century as the basis of manorial land tenure.

Under this system, the inhabitants of a manorial vill held strips of land in various parts of the open fields in return for labour service on the land of the manorial lord, known as the demesne. Each peasant holding was roughly equal in size to that of fellow inhabitants, the individual strips being scattered throughout the area of the open field to ensure fair apportionment of good and inferior soil.

The expansion of the open fields naturally depended upon factors such as the ease of land clearance and preparation for cultivation, the variability and fertility of soil composition and demographic growth. As settlements became well established a two field system was generally developed with one field in a given year used for cropping while the other lay fallow to enable restoration of the natural nutrients within the soil.

The population of the country in general increased rapidly between the eleventh and early fourteenth centuries and by the thirteenth century a majority of manors had, of necessity, adopted the three field method of crop rotation commonly known as the Midland Field System, in an effort to boost agricultural production by more efficient use of the land.

In addition to cultivated strips, each peasant had the customary right to graze a set number of animals on the surrounding common or wasteland and had free access to the timber, stone and turf found there.

The method of open field agriculture lasted about 450 years until a combination of socio economic change largely prompted by the Black Death of 1348-50, undermined the feudal system, promoting the tendency to consolidate and enclose land holdings. The process received a more universal application from the mid-eighteenth century and by the mid-nineteenth century, Knottingley’s fields had been transformed into the pattern seen today.

Whatever the field system, it was necessary to give specific field areas a name in order to distinguish a particular field from the surrounding land in order to avoid operational chaos. Initially, names were transmitted orally but from the sixteenth century they increasingly appeared on maps, estate plans and in legal documents such as land conveyances. With the passage of time, some names were transformed whilst others became obsolete. Today, only the occupying farmers and a handful of local historians know and refer to the field names commonly used by former generations. The general public is, alas, unaware of the rich historical legacy contained in the field and place names of the township in which they now reside or work.

BEGINNINGS

The origins of the location and name of the township of Knottingley have been fully described elsewhere and therefore require only brief recapitulation for the purpose of this essay.

The settlement was established early in the seventh century of the Christian era when incoming invaders of Germanic extraction laid territorial claim to the wooded area located on the south side of the river Aire at a point close to a strategically placed river crossing. Despite continuous habitation throughout succeeding centuries little is known of the settlement beyond the evidence presented in the Domesday Survey of 1086 which reveals that by the late Anglo-Saxon period a cohesive settlement existed organized on a manorial pattern under the lordship of a Saxon theng named Barthr (Baret).

The vill, a linear development about half a mile in length, was enclosed by a broad arc of ploughland and pasture, skirted by woodland stretching fully along the south side of the settlement from a point near South Moor Common in the east, to a line somewhere close to that of the present A1 road to the west, the river Aire forming the northern boundary.

The nucleus of the vill was a series of tofts and crofts situated on land laying between the latter day Aire Street and the parallel Back Lane (later designated in part as the Croft). Between the crude dwellings and the river was an area known as the Flatts. Watered by the annual spring floods, this land initially provided an ideal source for cultivation and pasture, running the full length of the river bank from the area known today as the Holes, to Bank Dole Reach near the present Knottingley lock. The date at which the land ceased to be held individually, was organized for common cultivation and was considerably extended in area, is not known but study of the topography of the modern town reveals that by the eleventh century the vill comprised land known as demesne, belonging to the manorial lord, which occupied the area of land lying between the river and the line of the present Hill Top Road, covering an area from slightly to the east of St. Botolphs church and extending as far as the line of the Ferrybridge Road to the west. The peasant community occupied the area to the east of the demesne land extending as far east as Bank Dole salient.

As the population of the vill increased it doubtless became necessary to expand the area of cultivated land. It seems probable that a second phase of development occurred encompassing the land to the south side of the settlement, covering all the land between the south bank of the Aire and a line from Marsh Lane, Sunny Bank and then via Cow Lane and Racca Green before proceeding along the line of the present Weeland Road to Spawd Bone Lane and terminating westward at the present Headlands Lane. The whole land area was utilized as a two field system, one field being under cultivation while the other lay fallow, the headland dividing the two fields probably being the line of the pathway presently running through the middle of the glassworks site.

A possible explanation for the coalescent development of the settlement into a feudal vill may be that although the local population was sparse, the Flatts and Ings had proved to be inadequate for the sustenance of the community necessitating the clearance of the woodland to the south of the settled area to enable its conversion to arable. While of fundamental importance, population growth was not the sole factor in the promotion of assortment of the surrounding woodland. The concomitant demands of seigniorial and ecclesiastical dues and the process of sub-division of individual land holdings through partible inheritance were developmental factors which have been identified as subtle change agents which influenced the rise of communal agriculture. (4) Further suggestions concern the practical aspects of land conversion. The necessity for shared labour in clearance of the woodland was reinforced by the adoption of heavier ploughs as the newly intaken land was heavier and of a coarser texture than the light alluvial soil deposited by the seasonal flux of the Aire. Consequently, the sharing of draught animals became essential for the task of preparing the unbroken land for cultivation. (5)

To facilitate clearance of the tree stubs and the turning of the sod it was necessary to yoke together a plough team of beasts known as an ox-gang. As no individual within such a small community was likely to possess a full ox-gang it was probably necessary to form a composite one with each beast being contributed by a different owner. (6) An ideal ox-gang consisted of eight beasts and each contributor would receive an eighth part of the area converted, the holding being in the form of a strip of land which in size represented a single day’s ploughing. (7) The scattered strip system was adopted to ensure the fair distribution of all types of soil within the intake whilst being a sufficiently flexible system to admit newcomers as the community grew in size. (8) It is of passing interest to note that the individual strips were contained within larger blocks of land variously named as furlongs, shotts or flatts, the two latter being most commonly used to identify such areas at Knottingley. The application of the term ‘Flatts’ with regard to land lying alongside the river in central Aire Street is a clear indication of its original useage in Middle / Late Saxon times. (9)

The collectivisation which appears to have been prerequisite for economic survival of the community was part of a general process of demographic expansion by the tenth century characterised by the social and economic pressures underlining the transformation of the agrarian system of which developments at Knottingley are a mirror image. (10)

The initial assart was probably undertaken within the area immediately to the south of the Back Lane, encompassing the land lying between Chapel Street and Banks Lane (Weeland Road) to the west of the settlement and the line of Cow Lane to the east, with further expansion in either direction at a later date.

DOMESDAY, KNOTTINGLEY

The entry in the Domesday Book refers to the manorial vill as Notingeleia or Notingelai which prior to the Norman Conquest twenty years earlier, was under the lordship of an influential Saxon, Barthr, who also held several neighbouring manors. (11) At the time of the survey the vill contained four carucates of taxable land valued at £4.

A carucate was the amount of land a yoke of eight oxen was capable of ploughing within the space of a single year. The carucate, also known as a ploughland, had gradually replaced the hide as the standard unit of land measurement throughout Yorkshire during the eleventh century and became the unit of tax assessment in the post Conquest period. The caracute was, however, of variable acreage according to the system of tillage and could be as little as 80 or as large as 144 acres. (12) Nevertheless, a formula of 10 acres per caracute appears to have been the norm and on this basis the total area of arable land at Knottingley may be calculated as 320 acres with half that amount in use at any given season and an equal area lying uncultivated or fallow. (13) The acreage is confirmed by the Domesday reference to four ploughs in the pre Conquest period. However, a considerable decline had occurred in the taxable value of the land during the two decades following the Conquest and although it has been suggested that the vill may have been spared the worst excesses of the harrowing of the North in 1070, the Domesday Survey reveals that the monetary value of the land had fallen from four pounds in the time of King Edward the Confessor to forty shillings. (14)

Not all the manorial land was entered into the Domesday Book, merely that which was profitable and therefore suitable for payment of tax. In addition to the areas of arable, woodland, pasture and meadowland which were recorded, giving a total of 480 acres, were further tracts of wasteland and common, making the vill about 1,481 acres in extent. (15)

By 1086 the lordship of the honour of Pontefract had been granted to Ilbert de Lacy, a liegeman of William the Conquerer, who as the tenant in chief had replaced Barthr by one Rannulf Grammaticus as the undertenant of the manor of Knottingley. (16) At the time of the Survey the lord of the manor held a plough and a half with a further plough and a half being owned collectively by the two bordars resident within the manor. As a result the total area of cultivable land had reduced to 240 acres. (17)

Of the size of the local population the Survey gives little indication, listing only the two bordars or smallholders who held land of the manorial lord and undertook services in lieu of their holdings, and six villains, virtual slaves, being mere chattels. On this basis, Forrest adjudges that at Notingeleia there were only nine families resident. However, not every member of the community held land in the common fields, the allotment of which was dependant upon ownership of the component part of an ox-gang. There was often a residual element of the manorial population which was unrecorded in Domesday, being restricted to their crofts and customary rights of grazing, pannage, turbary, etc., for subsistence. (18)

THE PORT OF KNOTTINGLEY

The population remained small until the end of the twelfth century by which time the general demographic surge which had occurred nationally was accentuated in the area around Pontefract by the construction of the Castle and the subsequent development of the town as the seat of the de Lacy lordship. The developments exercised a considerable influence upon the manorial vill at Knottingley, the most significant factor being the decision to erect a water powered corn mill on the bank of the Aire. The most suitable site for this construction was adjudged to be in the middle of the demesne land on the north western side of the manor. There is no extant record of the building of the mill and the earliest record of its existence is dated 1218 by which date it was already well established. The mill was most probably built within a few decades of the possession of the manorial holding by Ilbert de Lacy and the installation of Rannulf Grammaticus as his sub-tenant. (19)

The construction of a weir across the river in order to supply the motive power for the mill wheel curtailed the movement of vessels beyond that point. Henceforth all goods and materials required transhipment and in consequence, the vill became an important staging point which rapidly developed the status of an inland river port, being the prime point of supply for Pontefract Castle and other areas of central Yorkshire.

The number of inhabitants of the vill naturally increased in consequence of the manorial development and this expansion was accompanied by an increase in the demand for peasant holdings held of the manorial lord in return for service labour. By the fourteenth century the existent system of land tenure was strained, necessitating the reorganisation of the surrounding field system. An interesting glimpse of the manor is afforded by the Poll Tax of 1378 which accesses the taxable land value as 18s 6d, shared amongst 73 persons, the most prominent taxpayer being one Betissa Bronne who kept a handmaid and a serving man and was amerced in the sum of 6d. (20)

MANORIAL RE-ORGANISATION

To meet the growing need, new settlement sites were established on the southern and eastern edges of the manor. The new settlements occupied land situated at a moderate distance from the original nucleus and by the fourteenth century the manor had a fourfold pattern of settlement based on Aire Street, Racca Green, Fernley Green and Swinley Green (the latter also being known as Low Green).

It is not known whether the new settlements were created on land constituting part of the existing field system but it seems quite probable for topographical evidence suggests examples of settlement relocation on common field sites. The possible imposition of greens settlement at Knottingley particularly with regard to the Racca and Fernley greens, would have meant the forfeiture of prime land and given impetus to the further expansion of the common fields to provide compensatory space and additional peasant holdings.

While the piecemeal assart of the surrounding woodland was often undertaken on an individual basis the eventual expansion of the common field system resulted in the incorporation of such clearances in exchange for additional strip allotment to compensate for the individual assart of closes.

The earliest phase of expansion was undertaken as a supplementary extension of the two field system commonly found throughout the eastern areas of Yorkshire and first recorded at Knottingley in the late eleventh century.

The initial assart of the area to the south of Back Lane was eventually followed by extension to east and west so that eventually the original field system comprising the Flatts and the water meadows to the east was substantially enlarged to include all the area known today as Marsh End, the southern boundary being Sunny Bank, and all the land lying along the south side of Hill Top, the southern boundary being the original line of Spawd Bone Lane. It is not improbable that the area to the east was eventually extended southward beyond Sunny Bank to encompass the land to the south bounded by what is now Weeland Road and terminating eastward at Trundles Lane.

The entire area was first laid out as a two field system with each individual having half his total holdings in each field. The two furlongs or fields being separated by a broad balk known as a headland. Most probably the headland ran in a north-south direction from a  point roughly in a line from the entrance to Stolzle (ex Bagley / Rockware) glassworks and on beyond the present canal, through Primrose Hill to the Back Lane with the fields lying to either side and encompassing the space bounded east by Fernley Green and west by the Headlands.

Demographic studies clearly indicate that population growth invariably occurred in areas which had the greatest potential for economic and physical development such as Knottingley. (21) In such conditions of demographic growth the two field system, with half the arable lying unused at any given time, proved to be both wasteful and inadequate. A three field system appears to have been dictated by economic necessity. The establishment of secondary settlements at Racca Green and Fernley Green had invariably put pressure on the area encompassed by the dual field system and necessitated the extension of the cultivated area southward and eastward, providing in the process, the impetus for adoption of a three field system.

There is evidence of a transitionary phase in the general neighbourhood during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Beal, Kellington and Whitley are reported to have had three fields systems at a time when Knottingley, Kirk Smeaton, Womersley and Burgwallis still retained a two field layout. (22) The adoption of the Midland three field system had the advantage of reducing the percentage of fallow land whilst affording greater flexibility on cropping rotas so that over time the Midland system was widely adopted. (23)

The numerical identification of land division employed later by the Enclosure Award Commissioners, although somewhat intricate, is nevertheless of use in identification of the boundaries of the three great fields of the township of Knottingley at their fullest extent. In addition, place names afford a glimpse of former boundaries. In the latter connection, the term ‘bank’ is most useful for the comparison of ‘bank’ names featured within the Award Schedule with their location as shown on the Award Map reveals that several such sites are situated on peripheral areas of the great fields, the field edges being delineated by a ridge or bank separating the cultivated land from the adjacent wasteland areas. Allied to such locations are others identified by name elements such as ‘butt’ or ‘balk’. The butts were small, irregular shaped parcels of land, usually triangular in shape and therefore named alternatively as gores, the shape of which was determined by geographical considerations but invariably lying at field edges. Banks were banks of soil raised by the process of ploughing and served as divisional markers between land holdings and furlong boundaries. The name ‘Buttlebank’, recorded in the sixteenth century but doubtless of more ancient origin, is a superb example of a field name which incorporates a combination of the name elements ‘butt’ and ‘bank’, and although its omission from the Enclosure Award Schedule prevents locational identification it seems possible that Buttlebank was an alternative name for Sunny Bank and that the forepart of the name was additionally inspired by the profusion of buttercups on the site of the early field boundary.

If names such as Pudding Bank, Kemp Bank, Park Balk and Butts Close identify parcels of land situated at the extremities of the great fields then locations such as Banks Lane, Bank Dole and Sunny Bank, situated more centrally within the township area, provide a clear indication of the perimeters of early field systems, thus confirming Spawd Bone Lane, to which Banks Lane provided access, and Sunny Bank, as the boundaries of an early two field layout.

Naturally, the transformation of the field system at Knottingley required a high degree of communal compliance and organisation. The extent to which lordship was a factor in promoting change is variable in general but the manorial lord had the authority to implement change and the medium of the manorial court as the means to enforce his will and could command the services and skills of manorial officials to give practical expression to his desire. (24) The lord stood to benefit from greater efficiency which in turn rendered savings in time and reduced waste, to say nothing of the financial gain in service rents accruing from the newly enfeoffed peasantry. The imposed layout of the town of Pontefract at this period which is clearly evident from examination of its present day thoroughfares, its topography and commercial trading names, has been remarked by various authorities. The evidence of reorganisation in respect of Pontefract and other de Lacy holdings is indicative of the likelihood that the reorganisation occurred at Knottingley was prompted by the tenant in chief. (25) The peasantry, for whom survival was the paramount factor, bonded socially and psychologically to feudal servitude and may have welcomed reorganisation of the existent system if it was perceived to be materially beneficial to them. However, regardless of its source, change could only be undertaken with the approval of the lordship. (26)

The extent to which reorganisation of the field system at Knottingley was an instant operation or a more protracted scheme is also conjectural. Domesday evidence indicates areas of woodland clearance in some manors pending future cultivation. Such clearance may have been undertaken at Knottingley to provide sufficient space for reapportionment of holdings as the initial stage of agricultural expansion for there is evidence of individual assartment during the twelfth and early thirteenth centuries. By the latter period the existing fields which were located between parallel boundaries formed by the River Aire to the north and the line of Weeland Road – Spawd Bone Lane – Simpson’s Lane to the south, had been incorporated into the vastly expanded three field system.

The most extensive of the reorganised open fields at Knottingley was the South Field which occupied the acreage lying west of a line created by England Lane and Banks Lane and the western edge of the present Warwick estate and extended southward as far as the boundary with Darrington. The smaller Middle Field incorporated the eastern portion of the previous area of cultivation and widened out to occupy the land lying between England Lane – Racca Field Lane (Womersley Road), extending southward as far as the boundary with Darrington. The East Field, also known as the Low Field due to the eastward declination of the land below Broomhill, was located to the east of the boundary with the Middle Field and extended from the East Ings beyond Stocking Lane, (the latter name being derived from the process of assartment) to the common or waste land of the South Moor (originally situated adjacent to a woodland area and known as South Moor Wood). The southern and south-eastern boundary of the East Field abutted the rein of Cridling Park before turning northward to absorb the area known as Gascoigne Reach lying east of Bank Dole. (c.f. fig ii)

Each of the three great fields was between 300 and 500 acres in extent and each was sub-divided into a number of smaller fields known variously as furlongs, flats, riggs or shotts, which subject to geographical conditions, were of rectangular shape, approximately ten acres in extent. The layout was, however, decreed by the lie of the land in order to take advantage of factors such as natural drainage, convenience of access and ease of ploughing. Thus, some furlongs rather than being parallel were situated at right angles to each other. Theoretically, the furlongs were 220 yards long by 22 yards wide, the area representing a day’s ploughing for a single ox-gang. Here again, a degree of variation existed according to the configuration of the fields and the nature of the soil. The furlongs were separated at each end by a headland some 15-20 feet wide which was the space required to turn round the ox-gang. Following the completion of the ploughing of a particular field the headland was then ploughed along its length in order to utilise all available arable land. (27) Furlongs were divided lengthways by a ridge or balk of earth created as a result of the soil turned over by the ploughshare as it traversed the length of the furlong. The strips created by ploughing each length of the furlong were apportioned pro rata amongst those manorial peasants entitled to an allotment within the open fields, thus ensuring an equitable distribution of the good and poorer soil within each furlong. (c.f. Fig vi, infra)

From the foregoing it will be seen that the term ‘field’ had considerable flexibility being applicable to the entire area under cultivation or the smaller sub-divisions formed from groups of furlongs, each furlong having its own name, while small individual enclosed areas, although commonly referred to as closes, were also designated as fields. Therefore, as a furlong consisted of a series of parallel strips so a group of furlongs comprised a field which was a larger division within the even larger open field area. (c.f. fig iv, infra showing a stylised representation of the various land divisions).

The assart of surrounding woodland was probably undertaken a furlong at a time with subsequent apportionment of the cleared land taking place on a piecemeal basis. Portions of land cleared as a result of individual assart were mostly incorporated within the reorganised system with compensatory apportionment within the newly created furlong. Evidence of individual activity is seen in the form of small enclosures, several of which are clearly shown in the areas of secondary settlement on the Enclosure Award map of the late eighteenth century. (28)

The size of the medieval population of the manor is not known although as mentioned earlier, the Poll Tax of 1377 was levied on 73 persons. The Poll Tax was levied on all people 14 years and older but under assessment and evasion are constraining factors which in the case of Knottingley was doubtless compounded by a degree of mobility arising from the burgeoning maritime activity and associated trades at that time. Furthermore, the Tax was calculated in the immediate wake of a series of visitations of the Black Death, occurring between 1348-69. The plague had devastating effect upon all manorial communities and it may be assumed that Knottingley with its maritime connections was a potential crisis area.

By the middle of the fourteenth century climatic change, soil exhaustion, plague and the technological limitations of medieval agriculture practise had combined to limit demographic growth. The large scale reclamation of land slowed to a gradual halt, not least because of a growing awareness of the need to preserve the remaining woodland for constructional purposes, fuel and pannage. (29)

The open fields of Knottingley endured for almost a further four and a half centuries during which feudalism which formed the basis of the open field system of agriculture, was replaced by capitalism based on individual land ownership. The advent of a money economy with wage payment replacing feudal service led to the abandonment of demesne farming and the breakdown of the complex administrative aspects of medieval economy. Consolidation of strips took place by means of exchange, leasehold agreement and partible inheritance with comparable gains in time and efficiency of purpose. By the sixteenth century the manorial lordship of Knottingley had been divided and was abandoned in all but name by the middle of the eighteenth century. Local additional factors promoting the demise of the feudal system are the expansion of the maritime trade from the late Middle Ages and the rapid and widespread development of the limestone trade from the sixteenth century. Both these developments had considerable implications for local labour and land usage in the post medieval period. Ironically, because of the development of the limestone extraction industry, much of the physical evidence of the medieval field organisation was destroyed so that where most other towns present a palimpsest, Knottingley presents a series of voids. Nevertheless, the retention of a myriad field and place names allows some insight into the township of yesteryear. (30)

Terry Spencer